What Are We Going To Do?
by Beedok
Summary: While just starting the training trip, Genma ended up picking up an extra child who proves even harder to mould into a 'man among men'. Ranma also gets to understand some truths at a much younger age thanks to this fiesty adoptive sister. Now the Tendos have to deal with an extra guest, and extra chaos. That's right, another Hibari fic. In collaboration with user ExceedinglyTrans.
1. Confounding Guests

The sight in the genkan was not what Nabiki expected, regardless of whether it was related to engagement promise her father had brought up or not. There was a _panda_ standing there, with two teens in Chinese style frog button shirts beside him (or her? Nabiki wasn't really sure how you determined the sex of a panda). One was a redhead, while the other had black hair. If either one was the groom-to-be, then he was seriously bishonen. Bishonen wasn't _bad_, per say, but they were kind of short too. The panda kind of threw all logic out the window though, and Nabiki decided to step back to let her father deal with this.

"Er, hello there?" Soun offered. "I... Er, are either of you a Saotome?"

The panda held up a sign that read: #It's a long story, Tendo-kun.#

Meanwhile the short teen with black hair stepped forward nervously. "Er, I'm Saotome Ranma, this is my sis, Hibari. D'ya got a kettle or any-"

Ranma's words were interrupted by Soun's sudden embrace. "My boy! Welcome to...to... you're softer than I'd expected."

Soun stepped back and crouched a bit to get a better look. Nabiki likewise leaned in for a second appraisal. Ranma's chest was rather prominent. It must have been the strangeness of the panda that somehow distracted her from what was now a rather obvious fact. Just to make sure, she reached forward and poked.

"Ya havin fun with that?" Ranma asked as Nabiki poked again.

"Hah, good work, Ranma. You've found yourself a girlfriend already," the red haired girl said, laughing to herself.

Nabiki, for the first time in a long time, felt a bit self conscious. "I was just checking. We were expecting a boy, so-"

The was a loud thud, and Nabiki realised her father had fainted.

* * *

A minute or two later, the group sat around the living room table, and Kasumi had successfully woken their father back up. Ranma's sister, Hibari, seemed to have taken over 'leader of the pack' duties for the moment, as she sat a little in front of her two companions.

"Hey, so, there seems to be a misunderstanding going on here. Like Ranma said, I'm Saotome Hibari, and-"

"One of you is supposed to be a boy!" Soun suddenly shouted, tears streaming from his eyes. "Genma promised there'd be an engagement!"

Though Hibari said nothing at first, Nabiki noticed the other girl's eyebrows fly upward at that news… and she also noticed the smirk that briefly came and went from her face. For the briefest of moments, Hibari turned, making eye contact with her sister, before looking back at the Tendos.

"Right, the _engagement_. Pops was telling us all about that on the way here. He actually feels _really _bad about this whole situation, and wanted to come apologize about it in person." Splaying her hands out, Hibari smiled even wider as she said, "You see, he doesn't _have_ any sons - just us two daughters."

Nabiki had never tried to ascribe emotions to a panda before, but this one looked positively irate. It pulled a marker out of seemingly nowhere along with a blank sign and began furiously writing, only to be stopped by Ranma grabbing the marker out of its hands. The panda immediately tried to get it back, which quickly devolved into fist fighting, though the two combatants didn't move an inch from where they sat.

Meanwhile, Hibari continued talking as though nothing of interest was happening behind her. "Unfortunately, though, our old man lost his courage right before we got here. He sent the two of us along instead, to relay the message for him."

"The _two _of you? What about the panda?" Nabiki said. Hibari had definitely been surprised when Soun had mentioned the wedding, so there was no possible way she was telling the truth now. But Nabiki was sure she could get to that truth with a few simple, probing questions.

"That's just our pet, from China. He gets sad when Ranma and I aren't around," Hibari said, waving the question off. That answer had come much more quickly than Nabiki had expected. "Anyway, as you can see, there's no boys to be had, so I have to assume there's no engagement, either. Unless it's a lesbian wedding you're after."

Though her father immediately fainted again, Nabiki hardly noticed. What caught her eye instead was the brief, knowing look that Hibari gave her when saying that last line. One of the many things Nabiki prided herself on was her ability to keep her emotions from showing. Earlier, she had, for just a moment, felt self-conscious about Hibari's 'girlfriend' joke, but she was _sure_ she'd given no sign of it. And yet _clearly _this Hibari girl had somehow picked up on that earlier moment of weakness, and was now exploiting it for her own amusement. It was both impressive and maddening.

"Can you… that's not even legal, is it?" Akane said, clearly nervous about her own line of questioning.

Pressing a hand against her sister's shoulder, Kasumi said, "Oh, dear, I'm afraid it's not."

Eye narrowing, Nabiki pushed ahead, not beaten just yet. "Why's your panda want that marker so much?"

"It likes to draw," Hibari said without missing a beat.

The speed of this girl's lies wasn't the only impressive thing, it was also how much confidence she put behind every word. But Nabiki refused to relent. "Okay, but it wrote words when you first got here."

"Is it not allowed to do both?"

Working overtime to prevent her irritation from showing, Nabiki gripped the edge of the table. "Why's your sister keeping the marker from it, then?"

"She's just playing with it."

Before Nabiki could toss out another question, she felt a hand press firmly against her shoulder.

"Nabiki, are you alright?" her older sister said, her eyes filled with concern. Those eyes dipped down for a moment to look at her hands, and when Nabiki followed suit she realized with surprise that her skin was white from how hard she was grasping the table.

Relaxing her grip, Nabiki took a breath, and with it, a moment to steady herself. There was no reason for her to be getting so worked up. Hibari was _clearly_ lying, and though her voice was convincing, her words really weren't. But would directly calling that out even do anything? Probably not. If Nabiki were to grab another marker for the panda, though, what would happen th-

"Are you really a martial artist?" Akane said, looking over at Ranma.

"Sure am!" the black-haired girl said, smiling wide while still keeping the panda at bay.

"Me too!" Hibari added, also beaming.

Eyes sparkling like she'd just been given a present, Akane stood to her feet and said, "Do you two maybe want to spar for a bit? We've got our own dojo, afterall!"

Both Saotomes leapt to their feet in excitement, to both Nabiki and the panda's surprise. "Heck yes!" they said in unison.

Tossing the marker over her shoulder, Ranma followed Akane out of the room, her sister by her side. The soft 'ploop' sound Nabiki heard a moment later made it clear the marker had ended up in the koi pond.

Despite the panicked panda rushing out into the garden, Nabiki's eyes stayed locked on Hibari as all three guests exited the room. Kasumi, hand still on Nabiki's shoulder, said, "Really, Nabiki, are you alright?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." As Hibari disappeared down the hall, Nabiki's eyes dropped to the floor, her mind whirring. "I'm just… not sure about these Saotomes."

* * *

Akane couldn't help smiling. After the fright of her father announcing an engagement, things had really turned around. Rather than any annoying boy, two girls had shown up; two quite cute girls, if she was being perfectly objective (a fact she wasn't sure why she was noticing as much as she was).

"Well, here's the dojo," Akane announced as she slid open the door.

Turning around as her guests stepped inside the dojo, Akane swore Ranma blushed a little at her smile. She wondered why for a moment. It couldn't be that Ranma leaned _that _way, right?

Dismissing a bit of confused emotions, Akane spoke up. "How does some light sparring to warm up sound?"

"Sounds good to me," Ranma replied. "Unless ya wanna go first, Hibari?"

The taller girl shrugged. "It's okay, you can go first. Some of us like to look before we leap."

"That's the borin' option," Ranma replied, before walking out to meet Akane in the centre of the dojo.

Akane adopted a fighting stance, while Ranma stayed loose. The two paused a moment for Hibari to step up and give the begin gesture. Akane waited a split second to see if Ranma would strike before launching her own assault. Ranma dodged her with ease.

As Akane was starting to get frustrated at the other girl's impressive grace Hibari gave a shout.

"Roundhouses. Ranma's bad with roundhouses!"

Akane blinked, wondering if it was a trap. Ranma's sharp glare at her sister indicated otherwise though, and so Akane decided to give it a try. Just not too quickly, going for a few punches as a feint before sliding in the kick. While Ranma blocked it, at least Akane had made contact.

Shedding the strange impression she'd had that Ranma was some sort of inhumanely graceful kitsune, Akane redoubled her efforts to attack. After a few more punches she went for a leg sweep, which Ranma unsurprisingly dodged. However that was a feint, and Akane swung back with a low ax kick aimed at thigh level on the shorter girl.

That's when Ranma leapt up, over Akane's head. As Akane spun to follow her opponent she couldn't help feeling like maybe her first impression that Ranma was beyond human was right. The short girl landed with impossible grace and her hand shot out to Akane's head. The youngest Tendo braced for impact only for Ranma's fist to stop just short. Frozen in shock a moment, Akane did nothing as Ranma rotated her wrist and lightly rapped on Akane's forehead as one would a door.

Ranma then pulled her fist away, smiling an adorably nervous smile. The clash between incredible skill and that innocent expression Ranma was wearing was confusing enough Akane couldn't help but begin to giggle. Ranma joined in soon enough.

Out of the corner of her eye Akane noticed Hibari smiling. There was something in that taller girl's eyes that Akane couldn't quite read, but it didn't feel threatening.

"I'm so glad you're a girl," Akane said to Ranma as the giggling ended. "I don't know what I'd do if a boy were that much better than me."

Ranma's face suddenly went serious as the short girl turned to her sister. They made a wordless exchange that ended in Hibari shrugging (but not losing that smile of hers) and Ranma turning back to Akane.

"Well, y'see, things are a little complicated on that front," Ranma explained.

"How can that be complicated?" Akane asked, her mind trying to fill in the very large blank.

"It'll probably sound crazy unless I show ya," Ranma continued.

"The part you can show is new, but your being complicated isn't," Hibari mentioned, walking over to the other two and poking her sister in the side of the head.

"Well yeah, but that part's even harder ta explain," Ranma countered. "But I guess the easiest way ta say it is just that sometimes I'm a girl and then other times I'm a guy."

Akane just blinked. What else could she do? She had no way of processing what she'd been told. Boys were boys, loud and obnoxious hormone driven jerks, while girls were... well, girls. The confusion must have been obvious on her face going by the nervous glance Ranma shot Hibari.

"Maybe if you go into more specifics?" the red haired girl offered.

"What specifics are there?" the shorter sister countered.

Before Akane could ask any further questions the dojo door slid open, revealing a rather smug looking Nabiki.

"Alright you two, time to come clean. Your 'pet' has done some very interesting things," she said, her tone downright swimming in arrogant satisfaction.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted," Hibari replied, apparently utterly undaunted by whatever had Nabiki looking so self-righteous.

* * *

A few minutes later the four of them were walking down the hall back to the living room, each wearing a vastly different expression. For Ranma, frustration, and for Hibari - confidence. Nabiki, on the other hand, had a positively sinister smile. Akane herself, meanwhile, was sure she just looked confused. She still hadn't quite been able to parse what the Saotome siblings were talking about, and it was making her head hurt to try. Adding the looming mystery of whatever it was that had her sister so excited was filling Akane's head up close to bursting.

Quickening her pace to move near Nabiki, Akane whispered, "What's going on? Why're you so happy?"

"Oh, you'll see," Nabiki said with a low, short cackle. Akane rarely saw her sister acting quite like this, but whenever it happened she knew there was reason to worry. Though the two sisters loved each other immensely, Akane was under no impression that her second-oldest sister was a saint. Kasumi, maybe, but Nabiki? She was pretty much the opposite, especially when she got like this.

The four of them soon emerged into the living room, where the first thing Akane noticed was a distinct lack of a giant panda. The second thing she noticed was the presence of an older man she didn't recognize, wearing glasses and dressed in a white gi.

While Akane came to a stop, Nabiki kept going, confidently striding over to the man in white. "_Mr. Saotome_!" Nabiki said, in an overwhelmingly obnoxious tone. Putting an arm around the slightly-uncomfortable-looking man's shoulder, Nabiki looked back at Ranma and Hibari, smiling from ear to ear. "I brought your _kids_ back like you asked, so they can help you explain what's _really_ happening!"

For a moment, the only thing that happened was the older Saotome glaring at the younger two, who glared right back. Akane wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but if she had to guess, it had to do with the supposed engagement. Goodness knows she'd been angry at _her_ father too.

Though, admittedly, the thought of engagement didn't sting quite so much as it did before, now that she'd actually met the Saotomes. Akane's breath hitched, fear gripping her heart as she was faced with the stark reality that a large amount of the thoughts she'd had today were decidedly _not _straight-person thoughts.

Yet despite her inner turmoil, the world around kept right on moving.

"Why did you have to go and lie to them all, Hibari!?" Mr. Saotome said, his voice angry and booming.

"Why did _you_ lie to _us_ about why we were coming here!?" Hibari countered, her voice nearly as loud and her arms crossed.

"Seriously, Pops, that was messed up," Ranma added, looking more sullen than angry.

"Hmph," Mr. Saotome said, crossing his arms just like Hibari. "If I had told you, would either of you have even come?"

"No, we probably would've knocked some sense into you instead!" Hibari said.

"Well there you go."

Throwing her hands into the air, Hibari said, "That doesn't justify it, you conniving, heartless old man!"

"Perhaps we could all stop yelling?" a soft voice suggested, drawing everyone's eyes to Kasumi. Smiling warmly, her voice and face radiating peace, she said, "If we cool our heads a little bit and sit down, maybe we can talk all this out? My family and I are a little confused about this whole thing, too, I believe."

"Speak for yourself, I know exactly what's going on," Nabiki muttered, loud enough to be heard by everyone. Though her expression remained unchanged, Kasumi locked eyes with her sister, who begrudgingly sat down a moment later, whispering, "Sorry."

Once everyone had taken a seat around the table, Mr. Saotome began to speak. "I must apologize on my children's behalf. They were upset that I withheld information from them, and ended up lying to you all in the process." Though she looked like she really wanted to interject, Hibari remained silent for now. "As you may have guessed, _I_ am Genma Saotome, these two's father. And the engagement does _not_ need to be thrown aside, since they are-"

"Both boys!" Soun said, a little too eagerly.

Akane's eyes went wide, staring over at the two younger Saotomes, her mind trying to combine this new information with the two very feminine-looking people she could see right in front of her. That couldn't _possibly _be the truth, could it? A pit opened up in Akane's stomach — a vortex that twisted her emotions into painful knots. On the one hand, if her father was wrong, she'd be forced to deal with the very gay feelings she'd been having since the two younger Saotomes arrived. But if her father was _right_… maybe those feelings _weren't_ gay? Frustratingly, the thought disappointed her. For years she'd been mocked by callous jerks for being a "dyke", something she'd insisted wasn't true. Yet now, she was _disappointed_ that something might disprove the idea? What was _wrong_ with her?

"Is _that_ what you told him!?" Hibari shouted, the sound snapping Akane out of her own head. Hibari's fists were clenched and shaking and Ranma, for her… or his, or…?

How was Akane even supposed to think of Ranma? She _looked_ like a girl right now, and Akane was finding it difficult to consider her anything else. Regardless, she seemed unsure of what emotion to feel after Soun's outburst, her expression somewhere between sadness and anger.

Genma turned toward his children, holding his hands out like he was defending himself. "W-well, not _exactly_… I tried to explain the, er… _nuances_…"

"What _nuances_!?" Hibari said, voice rising even higher. "I am a _girl_! I am _not _and have _never _been a boy! I thought—" Her voice caught for a moment, angry tears forming in her eyes. "I thought, when we talked back at the springs, that you finally understood that."

Though she still barely understood what was going on, Akane knew intrinsically that she was on Hibari's side. Looking at the red-haired Saotome with sympathy, she said, "Maybe _you_ could explain what he's trying to say, so we can understand the way _you_ want us to?"

Though her hands were still balled into fists, Hibari smiled at Akane, and visibly relaxed ever so slightly. "That sounds great, thank you." She took a deep breath, relaxing even further, then started to talk, looking right at Akane as she did so. "I'm a girl, like I said. Always have been, but for a long time my body made me feel less like a girl than I wanted. And _certain people_"—she glared at her father before looking back at Akane—"were under the _false_ impression that my body meant I was a boy. But now, most of the time, my body's exactly how I want it, so there's really _no excuse_."

"I was _trying_ to tell my friend that," Genma said, gesturing at Akane's father, who just looked confused by the whole affair.

"And then there's my sometimes-sis, Ranma!" Hibari said, giving her sibling a side-hug. "You want to tell them?"

Shrugging, Ranma tried looking at Akane, but quickly looked away. Then she tried glancing at both of Akane's sisters, seemingly settling on Kasumi to maintain eye contact with. "Well, um, it's like I told Akane earlier. Sometimes I'm a boy, sometimes I'm a girl. I think sometimes I'm not even really either of 'em. I dunno, it's kinda confusin', even for me, but it's just… how I feel, ya know?" To Akane's surprise, Kasumi nodded her head, though Akane wasn't sure if this meant her older sister actually understood, or if she was just being her usual polite self. "An' now, after the springs, my body can kinda go back an' forth like my mind, which is pretty cool."

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but what's with these 'springs' you all keep mentioning?" Akane said, unable to hold back her burning question any longer.

Hibari laughed. "That's a whole story, really."

"It is indeed quite a tale!" Genma said, sitting up to his full height. Smiling, he said, "It began not long ago, in China…"


	2. The Whole Story

Finally, they'd reached it: the 'spring training ground' that Genma's little Chinese guide book had been leading them to. The way had been long and hard, partially because neither Genma nor his sons could speak Mandarin... and _partially _because Genma was not very good at reading maps. Hibari kept offering to help, but Genma always refused; he was a man, he could do it himself! And, after all, they'd made it, despite the hardship! With so much struggle, it had truly become a feat worth praising. So really, Hibari should _thank_ him. She wouldn't, but… she _should_.

A short, round man approached, introducing himself as a guide to the training ground. He offered to give them a full tour of the grounds, which Genma immediately felt an urge to refuse. Guided tours were boring, and shouldn't a _man_ explore for himself?

"Oh, yes, _please_!" said Hibari, before Genma had actually managed to speak. She shot a knowing smile his direction. He sighed. The kid had gotten really good at beating him to the punch lately. Verbally, at least. She'd managed to get her way a lot recently because of it, and with how big both she and the guide were currently smiling, Genma didn't have the heart to refuse.

..._He_. _Him_. How did that brat keep getting in his head like this? Hibari was a boy, but he _constantly_ claimed otherwise, despite Genma's assertions that he needed to accept reality. Lately, Genma had found himself slipping even in his own head. It wasn't helped by the fact that, despite more of Genma's assertions, Hibari made every effort to look and sound and act as feminine as he could. It was maddening, but Genma wouldn't be swayed. He _couldn't_. For _Hibari's_ sake.

Right now, with how often they moved from place to place, it was easier for the child to invent his own little world where gender was a thing that could be changed. But they were returning to Japan once they left this place, and they were going to _stay _there. At least _one _of them was going to get engaged! And maybe it wouldn't be Hibari. But even so, Hibari wouldn't be able to lie to people about his gender if he had to see those people every day, if he had to experience school, and romance, and, and… _life_. Most people weren't as understanding as Genma was about these things, after all. So the best thing he could do was to try to dissuade Hibari from these foolish notions _now_, so it would hurt the child less later. _Yes_! That was the right thing to do. The _fatherly_ thing to do!

As Genma traveled deeper into his own thoughts, the guide droned on and on about the history of the training grounds and the springs within them, slowly walking the trio toward the nearest spring. The guide pointed at said spring, saying something about a legend of a deer that had died there, and Genma decided enough was enough. It was time to _train_! These boys needed to be more manly if they were going to survive this world - not to mention if they were going to survive his wife - and there was no more time to waste!

"Boys, we've got better things to do than waste all our time learning history and folk tales!" he shouted, startling the guide and visibly irritating Hibari. Not waiting for a response, Genma dropped his pack to the ground and leaped onto the tall pole that stuck out of the spring, gesturing toward his sons. "Com'on, you _girls_, let's go! See if you can land a hit on your old man!"

Hibari crossed his arms and glared, while Ranma, with an apologetic shrug to his sibling, lowered his backpack to the ground. "I'm not going, you old idiot," Hibari said. "This guy's got some _valuable _information! Didn't you hear what he was saying about-"

"A-ha, at least _one_ of my boys will listen to me!" Genma shouted, leaping backwards onto another pole at the same time that Ranma leaped toward the one he'd just been on. It was disappointing that Hibari was being such a coward, but surely, if he saw his brother and father sparring, he'd realize what _amazing _training he was missing out on and would _rush_ to join them!

The sparring went swimmingly at first, with Ranma and his father trading jabs, strikes and kicks midair, hopping back and forth from pole to pole. There were a few close calls that nearly sent Genma tumbling into the waters below, but he'd be damned if he'd let his boy get the best of him like that. Only one of them was getting an impromptu shower today, and he intended for it to be Ranma. And Hibari, if the brat would just _get up here already_.

"_Dangerous_, you say?" said a louder-than-usual Hibari, from surprisingly close by. Had Genma and Ranma ended up circling back with all their hopping to and fro, or had the two on the ground managed to catch up?

"Oh yes, yes. _Very_ dangerous! _All _spring have terrible curse!"

"_Every spring_?" Hibari said with faux surprise, a hand covering his mouth dramatically. He pointed to the spring currently beneath Genma. "What about _that_ one?"

"Ah, Shonmaonīchuan, the Spring of Drowned Panda." the guide shouted, his voice piercing Genma's eardrums like a knife. "Tragic tale, _very _tragic of-"

Nope, no more of this. Since Ranma had stopped to listen to the exchange, Genma thought it safe to momentarily let his guard down, so he turned toward Hibari, hands on his hips. "If _you _want to waste your time, be my guest, son. But tell that man to stop _screaming _superstitious nonsense at m—"

A sharp kick to Genma's back slammed his jaw shut and sent him tumbling. "Always watch your back, Pops!" Ranma said, his voice almost sing-song.

Conflicting emotions arose within Genma: fear, anger, but most of all… pride. Ranma had taken advantage of the situation, _just_ like Genma had always taught him. His lessons had gotten through afterall! It was enough to bring a tear to a father's eye.

That tear was quickly washed away as Genma's face slammed into the water below. He felt a strange tingling sensation for a second, but it was gone so quickly that he doubted he had even felt it. Though it was tempting to just float for a few moments, Genma knew he couldn't let his son think the fight was _over_. Pushing against the bottom of the spring, Genma shot himself up and into the air. A startled Ranma immediately leaped backward, allowing Genma to take his place back on top of this spring's pole.

Wait, Ranma leapt backward again. He was now _two_ poles away. And he looked utterly _horrified_. But before Genma could figure _that _oddness out, he noticed a new detail. His other son was _laughing_. Not just laughing, but outright cackling so hard that his voice was ragged. What in the hell was going on here?

Turning back to Hibari, Genma tried to shout, but the sound that escaped his lips was decidedly _not_ human speech. Clamping a hand to his mouth in surprise, he nearly fell off the pole again as he realized that his hand was now a big furry paw, and his mouth was a big furry snout.

"I _tried_ to warn you!" Hibari said, clutching his sides from how much he'd been laughing.

"Wh-wh-what… What _happened_ to him!?" Ranma shouted, distress clear in his voice. Genma looked back at his other son, who was visibly shaken, barely maintaining his balance on the pole.

"Is curse from _tragic _death of panda that occur 2000 year ago in spring!" the guide said, as though that cleared everything up.

Eyes flicking down at the water below, Ranma said, "That curse stuff is _real_!?"

This was all absurd! Curses weren't _real_! People couldn't just… turn into animals! And yet… He looked at his furry paws. A panda. He could tell even without looking down at his reflection. So Genma was a panda now… How… how was he supposed to communicate? How was he supposed to teach his children martial arts!? He shivered, as another realization hit him. Would Nodoka be able to recognize him? She wouldn't kill a _panda_ for failing a mission that a _human_ was supposed to carry out, surely? Weren't pandas _endangered_? …She was definitely going to kill him.

Clutching the sides of his head in anguish, Genma shouted at the heavens, the sound coming out as a roar that startled even himself with its volume. It scared the others, too - out of the corner of his eye Genma saw the guide cower, Hibari jump, and, most tragically, Ranma wobble.

Balance lost, Ranma began to tumble backward. In clear desperation, his feet grabbed at the pole, but too tight, boy, too tight! The thin pole snapped in two, and Ranma fell down, down into the pool below. Genma sighed. He'd warned the boy to be careful with his strength…

After a sharp gasp, Hibari sprinted over to the pool Ranma had fallen into, his face filled with concern. Oh, sure, when it happens to your _father_ it's hilarious… but when something happens to your _brother_…

Genma dropped to the ground and walked toward his sons. Whatever Ranma had turned into, they'd make the best of it. They'd get through it as a family, Genma had no doubt.

"What's this one!?" Hibari shouted back at the guide, who had only just now started approaching them. The red-haired boy knelt at the edge of the pool, scanning the water with worry.

"Is tragic tale, _very_ tra-"

"We know!" Hibari snapped. "But _what _drowned here?"

"Is Nyannīchuan, Spring of Drowned Girl."

All tension left Hibari's hunched form. Slowly, he sat up, turning to gaze at the guide, eyes practically sparkling.

"_Come again_?"

Before the guide could respond, Ranma 's head burst out of the water, looking much the same as usual. But then his chest came into view, and it was…

Panic gripped Genma's heart. Hibari's change in mood suddenly made perfect sense. He stretched out an arm and attempt to shout 'no!' at the excited red-haired boy, but it was to no avail. Absolutely ecstatic, Hibari leaped into the spring, yelling "Cannonball!" as he went.

Dead. Genma was 100% dead.

* * *

Genma flexed his fingers, thrilled to be looking down on human hands again. He was so distracted by the sensation of regaining his humanity, after thinking he'd lost it for good, that he didn't notice Ranma's uncertainty with the kettle at first. With the curse reversible, then it might just be possible to prove the boys' masculinity to Nodoka still. If he got at least Ranma married by the time Nodoka found them... and yet Ranma was still just sitting there, studying the kettle.

"What's wrong, boy?" he asked, thrilled to have his mouth be able to make words once more.

Ranma looked up at him nervously, before glancing over to Hibari. The red haired youth was glaring at the kettle, as if hoping to intimidate the object into staying away.

"Don't you two want to get back to normal?" Genma asked. "Being stuck as girls can't be much more enjoyable than being stuck as a panda was."

"Why on earth would I want that?" Hibari asked, while Ranma had wavered. "I'm how I want to be."

Genma tried not to wince. All his hard work in danger from this accursed training grounds...

"Not this again... Hibari, you can't change what you are, and you have to live with that," he said, as authoritatively as he could muster.

"Oh, so that's permission to stay like this?" Hibari replied, a truly smug grin spreading across the redhead's face.

Immediately Genma regretted his choice of words, especially when Ranma let out a soft chuckle. "You know what I mean! You were born a boy, and that's that. You have to learn to accept reality at some point, boy."

"How can you still be this stubborn?" Hibari snapped, with a serious sort of ferocity she rarely brought against him. "I have never acted like a boy. I have never agreed to people calling me a boy. I have never wanted to be a boy. And right now I'm extra clearly not a boy."

Genma opened his mouth to snap something, but found himself floundering a little. Normally his position was the ever (in his opinion) unshakeable fact of physical form, but that was gone now. "Er, Ranma, explain to him that you're still men."

Ranma looked up at his father, large eyes still nervous. "I... but, are we? I'm kind of pretty female right now, and... I ain't totally sure I mind right now. 'Specially since it's pretty easy ta flip back when I decide I wan ta. Seems like there's fun to be had, seein' life from a different perspective?"

The Saotome patriarch couldn't believe what he was hearing. Both kids had gone girl on him? He was doubly dead. "You're planning to try to live as a girl now too, Ranma? Where's your honour? What about the ideals of manhood I taught you?"

"I dunno. Like, it doesn't feel wrong, bein' turned into a girl. I-I don't think I wanna stay this way totally forever? There's plenty about bein' a guy I like, just... also stuff I don't. Especially some days," Ranma replied, seeming to try to shrink into himself as he spoke, looking so small and nervous in his new form. "If I've got the opportunity ta see what life's like fer a girl, I think I'd like ta try it out a little. With this magic, it ain't a decision fer life or anythin'."

Genma stood up and paced around the small shack the guide had left them in. What was he supposed to say now? He'd argued to no avail with Hibari for years...

"The cursed forms are pretty easily broken. One spilled cup of tea, one misplaced spoon while you're doing dishes... people will find out what you two really are rather quickly," he said, trying to make the boys see reason.

"Well, we can tell people we're cursed, and just pretend it works the other way around," Hibari replied with a casual shrug.

"And what about when you two grow older, and want to have families? Are you going to end up housewives and mothers? Waiting quietly for your husbands to return from work?" Genma asked, glad to see that the idea at least made Ranma flinch a little.

"If we did, it wouldn't be the first time either of us liked a guy," Hibari countered.

"I didn't mean ta!" Ranma blurted, before turning bright red.

"What?" Genma asked, his heart feeling like it had fallen from his chest. Had he really been pursuing a lost cause for so long?

"It was-I don't wanna talk about it. And... you said you wouldn't tell, Hibari," Ranma said, pouting in a way that made Genma almost forget the petite girl in front of him was really his son.

"Sorry, but I needed something to get some sense into dad's brain," Hibari said, turning to Ranma with a gentle smile and placing a reassuring hand on the shorter teen's shoulder. "I had to crack out the big guns."

Ranma looked up at Hibari and returned the smile. They looked, for all the world, like two sisters. Genma could understand that Hibari had been hard at work at all things feminine for years, but to see it come so naturally to Ranma...

"You both actually like your curses?" Genma asked. Somehow he felt like his energy to resist was giving out. All those years of trying to get them to 'man up' ending with him looking at two girls.

Two girls who were so clearly still the kids he'd started the day with. It made him wonder why he'd been trying.

"The only downside I see is that I'm going to have to avoid hot baths and showers," Hibari replied.

Ranma shrugged. "I probably coulda gotten by in life fine without it, but it's a opportunity I ain't turnin' down."

The weary father sighed and slumped back into the chair. Looking over at Ranma, no longer focused on trying to still see a son, it suddenly struck him how much the currently female child looked like their mother. He'd always seen more of Nodoka than himself in the boy, but now... it hammered home that Ranma was quite a cute young woman right now. As for Hibari, she looked the same as ever, but for a soft smile on her face replacing the more melancholy expressions she'd had (when not up to mischief) the past few years. Nodoka was going to kill him if she ever found out, but...

"Fine... but I don't know the first thing about raising girls," Genma said, his sense of self preservation screaming at the rest of him, but failing in the face of rarely raised paternal instinct.

To his surprise, Genma suddenly found himself receiving a hug from Hibari. "Thanks dad."

"Y-you're welcome... daughter," Genma replied, trying not to tear up.

Things had been growing ever more tense the past few years, puberty and the all boys' middle school having deepened the divide. Having Hibari hug him and look up at him with that genuine happiness in her eyes... maybe it was worth having to be on the alert for Nodoka.

"Mhm, thanks for makin' a smart decision for once, pops," Ranma added, walking over to hug their father as well, in a rare display of physical affection.

"You should really show a bit more respect for your old man," Genma replied, finding himself pausing a little as he realised he wasn't sure what term to use for Ranma. "Did you want to be called daughter as well?"

Ranma stepped back a moment and brought a thoughtful hand to their chin. "Y'know, I've got no idea."

"Well, I suppose we can figure that out later," Genma replied. His ideas about proper parenting were going right out the window, and he was willing to improvise a bit. It was time to start training in truly 'anything goes' parenting.

"Hey, whaddya say we go for a walk?" Ranma asked. "It's a nice little valley, and I want ta get used ta my new legs."

"Sounds nice to me," Hibari replied.

Genma nodded and followed the pair out into the fresh air. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad... though a small part of him pointed out that maybe, just maybe, he could still at least find a wife for Ranma and be able to survive Nodoka's wrath.

* * *

"I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. _Lots _of things to think about, of course," Genma said, crossing his arms and nodding. Nabiki could tell there was something he wasn't saying, but she didn't have the capacity to figure it out - her mind was already swimming in questions.

"The next morning, Ranma confused me even _more _when they took a hot shower and then stayed a boy for the rest of the day! ...Hibari, of course, took a cold shower. Girl hasn't taken a hot one since she hopped into that spring!" He laughed heartily at that, coaxing a grin from Hibari in the process. "But anyway, as the three of us travelled back to Japan, Ranma switched back and forth, _on purpose_, many times. It was very confusing."

"Oh, boo-hoo," Hibari said, rolling her eyes.

"Let me finish, girl!" Genma said with a huff. "_But_, as time went on, I came to realize that I _did_ still have a son in them! I just also, apparently, had a daughter, too. And sometimes a, uh… well just a child, neither boy nor girl. I'm a very lucky father, is what I'm getting at."

This was a lot for Nabiki to handle. Sure, these concepts weren't _completely_ new to her. She was a woman who valued information, afterall. But it was different when those vague concepts were attached to actual people that she was seemingly going to be spending a lot of time with. Now she had to actually consider whether or not she _believed_ in these concepts. Her gut told her no, that it didn't make sense for anyone to be not a man or a woman, or for a man to become a woman, or… well Hibari made it sound like she'd _always_ been a woman, somehow? At least in her mind. And now also in her body, because of the curse? Which… she was using now, presumably? ...What did she look like _without _it?

Leaning against their father, smiling broadly, Ranma said, "Aw, Pops, that's real sweet of ya!"

"Don't let him win you back just yet, sis!" Hibari said, clucking her tongue, her heart clearly only half in the admonishment. "There's still this 'engagement' business that he lied to us about!"

Right, the _engagement_! Nabiki had nearly forgotten. But that just brought her back to what she'd already been contemplating: what did these two _very _feminine-looking women look like in their natural, uncursed form? 'Cause it didn't seem like it was decided yet _who_ was getting engaged to who. So if Nabiki couldn't talk her way out of being picked, she _had_ to know how bad the situation was. How cute _were _these two as guys? 'Cause, like, they were very cute as women, but Nabiki wasn't, you know… _like that_. Abnormal sexualities were just a weakness for others to exploit, so there was no way _Nabiki_ was saddled with one. Thus, if she was stuck with one of them, hopefully their guy form was cute, and _hopefully_ she could keep them in it as often as possible. Ranma seemed like a pushover, easy to manipulate, but that Hibari…

"Well, look, it was an agreement that Soun and I made a long time ago," Genma said, gesturing toward his friend, who was staring at Genma's two children as though he were trying to solve the world's most difficult math equation. "But a lot has changed, so I'm not sure if-"

"Genma, you _can't_ back out! I'm _old_, and I'm not going to have anymore children!" Soun said, suddenly right in front of Genma, gripping his gi. "All I have are daughters, but only a _man_ can succeed me as master of this dojo! Even if he's only, apparently… _sometimes_ a man."

"Stupid rule," Akane mumbled, just loud enough for Nabiki to hear.

Her father wasn't going to back out of it, then. That was all Nabiki needed to know. Grabbing the kettle that had been used to turn Genma human again, Nabiki assessed its warmth. It had definitely cooled since then… but it was _probably _still warm enough in there to work.

"Nabiki, what are you-" Kasumi started, seemingly the only one taking note of what her sibling was doing. Nabiki had a lot of respect for her older sister, but she'd already made up her mind, and she wasn't planning on letting Kasumi talk her out of it.

Tossing off the kettle's lid, Nabiki jerked it toward Genma's kids, soaking them both in warm water. At first, despite the shouting, Nabiki didn't think anything had changed. Had it not been warm enough? But then she noticed that Ranma was suddenly a bit wider, face a bit less round. And, even more noticeably, both Ranma and Hibari's chests had flattened. Curiously, that was about the _only _change Nabiki could pick out in Hibari, at least from this angle.

"The heck…" Ranma whined, voice notably deeper and more masculine.

"The _hell_!?" Hibari shouted, voice also a little deeper, but also breathier, and still, somehow, feminine.

Smirking, Nabiki shrugged. She could play this off, easy. "Hey, I might have to _marry _one of you. Just wanted to see-"

"Did you not listen to my dad _at all_!?" Hibari shouted, stomping her foot into the ground so hard that the sound reverberated throughout the room. Nabiki stared, shocked. She'd anticipated some more clever back-and-forth, but instead she was getting genuine anger!

"I haven't changed back _once_ since I jumped in that spring!" Hibari continued, holding a finger up and shaking it at Nabiki. Well, _yeah_, Nabiki had heard that, but she figured it was like… a new toy someone was really excited about or something. It was a _curse_, after all. It wasn't the real thing, so... "And you think it's okay to just… just _force_ me back into this body?" Hibari's eyes and voice went cold. "You're a heartless, cruel bitch."

Turning away sharply, Hibari looked to her father. "I don't know how you and your _friend_ are going to work out this engagement thing, but I know _one_ thing. I am _never_ going to be engaged to that woman."

And with that, she stormed off, leaving a heavy silence behind her that no one seemed to want to break.

"Maybe…" her father finally said, after what felt like an eternity. "Maybe we should... table this for now. It's been a _long _day, we could all use some sleep."

Everyone around Nabiki slowly stood and gradually filed out of the room. Akane offered to show Ranma and Genma to the guest room, Soun headed toward his room, and Kasumi gave Nabiki one long, sad look before she left too.

...Well, there was no denying it. Nabiki had messed up. She did so rarely, or, at least, she was rarely willing to admit when she did, even to herself. But there was no way to deny it now. The anger, and the… the just overwhelming _hurt_ in Hibari's eyes... It weighed on Nabiki in a way that she wasn't used to, and that she wasn't remotely comfortable with. She'd angered her sisters before, of course. Especially Akane. She'd even upset her father a few times. But they always forgave her, even if she sometimes had to work for it. And more importantly, she never worried whether or not they ultimately would. But this… Hibari _hated_ Nabiki now. It'd been clear as day. And she was so very, _very_ hurt by what Nabiki had done… whether or not Nabiki could escape being hated, she knew, deep down in her oft-ignored heart, that she had to do what she could to take that hurt away. There was no way she'd get any sleep tonight otherwise.

Pushing herself slowly to her feet, Nabiki walked toward the furo. She felt confident Hibari had gone there, in order to change herself back into the form she _clearly _wanted to stay in.

_She_. Nabiki had been thinking of Hibari as a girl again. And, well… was that so bad? In some ways it didn't make sense, but Hibari was _so_ sure of it. And it would only hurt her more to deny that, so… what choice did Nabiki have, really? She could figure out how to square it with her perception of reality later.

Nabiki stopped when she reached the short hallway to the furo, since at the other end a just-washed Hibari in a nightgown was closing the door behind her. She stiffened when she caught sight of Nabiki, her face forming a hard mask.

"What do _you_ want?"

Nabiki's tongue felt heavy in her mouth. She wasn't particularly great at apologies. _Especially _genuine ones. "I, um… I wanted to… apologize?" That sounded like a question. _Why_ had it sounded like a question?

"Uh-huh," Hibari said, arms crossed, eyes unimpressed. "One of your sisters put you up to that?"

It took everything within Nabiki to avoid rolling her eyes. "_No_, I just… Ugh, I'm bad at this, okay?"

"Mhm. Seems like that hurt you to admit, at least."

Nabiki considered just turning around and leaving. But that would be the coward's choice. And, admittedly, Nabiki was sometimes comfortable with making that choice. But her heart pushed back at the idea now. She could feel that it wouldn't relent until she'd made her best effort.

"What I did back there. It was… not great."

"Understatement of the year."

_Don't eyeroll. Don't eyeroll. Let her take her jabs, you deserve it right now._ "Riiiight. _Yeah_. So. I, um…" She sighed. "Well, you seemed upset, so I just wanted to say… I…"

An actual smirk crept its way across Hibari's face. She hadn't seemed to be taking any joy with her jabs before… Was Nabiki actually making progress?

"This is a real _struggle _for you, isn't it?" Hibari said, posture relaxing slightly. Maybe… maybe Nabiki didn't have to say it, then? It _seemed _like Hibari understood…

The red-headed girl took a few steps forward, standing right in front of Nabiki and somehow looking down at her despite the fact that Nabiki was the taller of the pair. "Go on, then. I'm waiting."

That haughty look in her eyes… Nabiki _hated_ it. But she deserved this right now, she _had _to remember that. Otherwise she'd just make everything worse. "I… am… _sorry_. I'm _really _sorry. That was bad, it sucked, and I'm sorry for doing it, and I'm sorry for how it made you feel." Huh, once she'd said the word, the rest had just sort of… spilled out. It didn't feel as terrible as she'd expected, either.

Hibari smiled, uncrossing her arms. "There, feel better now?"

"It was supposed to make _you_ feel better!" Nabiki snapped, before she could think better of it.

An actual _giggle_ graced her ears. "Well, it _did_! And I _assume_ it's made _your_ guilty conscience feel better, too."

_Stop. Reading me._ Nabiki grit her teeth, then sighed, relaxing her jaw and body. "I… _sure_. Yes. I feel better too."

"I'm still not getting engaged to you, though," Hibari said, literally booping Nabiki on the nose. The _nerve_!

Ignoring the _tiny, barely noteworthy _amount of heat she felt in her cheeks, Nabiki said, "I didn't even _want_ that to begin with."

Skipping right past her, Hibari practically sang, "Whatever you sa-ay!"

Now that Hibari could no longer see Nabiki's face, she scowled, maybe harder than she ever had before. This girl was the _worst_. With one more small sigh, she plastered a neutral expression on her face, swiveled around, and followed after Hibari, toward the bedrooms. Despite the _intense _aggravation she felt inside, she finally felt sure that she'd be able to sleep tonight. The weight had definitely lifted. Tonight she'd rest and get back her mental energy… she was positive she'd need as much of it as she could get, now that _Hibari Saotome_ was living in her house.


	3. First Day at Furinkan

The sound of her clock radio woke Akane from her confusing dream. As she quickly turned the speaker off (before it could wake Nabiki up) Akane tried to remember just what had happened in the dream, but found herself grasping at a confusing mixture of nonsense. Something about her father turning into a monkey and... yeah, it was gone.

Shaking the sleepiness out of her head, the young Tendo glanced out her window, and let out a soft sigh as she saw miserable dark grey skies. Well, it looked like a day for katas in the dojo as her morning warm up. Akane hopped to her feet and headed downstairs, slipping past the kitchen where she spotted Kasumi talking to someone...

Right! The Saotomes had come to stay with them last night. It had been such a whirlwind of information her brain had mixed it in with her dreams. As she reached the dojo, she heard a light 'kya' from inside and froze for a moment. Who would be in her dojo? Well, the only way to find out was to open the door and peak inside. So she did just that, sliding it open a crack.

The boy inside was moving with an almost inhuman grace, slipping from stance to stance silently, only making a noise when making a shout to add force to a blow. Akane felt herself lost in the beauty of those movements (and the boy's well toned arms and torso, as the lad was quite shirtless). The spell was broken slightly when the boy turned her way and froze.

"Oh! Uh, mornin' Akane-kun," the boy said with a soft smile that felt so familiar.

"G-good morning," Akane replied, as her brain scrambled for the boy's name. She remembered the two girls, and then the father who turned into a panda, but the boy... wait, the boy was: "Ranma. Ranma-kun."

Ranma continued to hold the smile, Akane not quite sure why. What she did realise, however, was that, if this was Ranma, then she was basically seeing that cute girl topless. The idea made her cheeks hot, until she remembered that she was a girl herself, and had been to pools or onsens plenty of times, so there was nothing scandalous about seeing another girl shirtless. And... and Ranma was a boy originally anyhow, right? So she was allowed to look and, well, maybe her cheeks were hot because it was a cute boy without a shirt in front of her? And, well-she...

"Yo, Tendo?"

Akane blinked, realising Ranma had been trying to talk to her. "Pardon? I, uh, I guess I'm still waking up?"

"Ah, okay. I was just askin' if it was okay for me to practice in here on my own. I mean, it's your dojo, but, I was figuring that I was stayin' here for a while, so it might be okay?" Ranma said, with a cute nervous expression that was definitely the same as the girl Akane had spent much of the evening talking with last night.

It was cute, but was it boy cute or girl cute?

"You can use the dojo whenever," Akane said, deciding she wasn't going to let herself worry about things too much.

Besides, thinking about it, Nabiki was the financial brain, it probably made more sense for her to actually inherit the dojo, while Akane just helped out teaching, so she wasn't going to be stuck with the confusion of Ranma.

"Cool, thanks!" Ranma replied, a large grin spreading across that handsome face. "I... could I see some of your katas? Curious how the Tendo school's different from what pop's taught."

"Oh, yes, sure!" Akane said, glad to have something to do that wouldn't involve thinking about Ranma.

Stepping forward, she gave some efficient bows before sliding into a kata that exemplified the power she felt so defined the Tendo school. Strong footing, but the ability to switch between stances if needed, that was what the Tendo school was all about. It might not match the way Ranma's feet seemed to barely touch the ground, but she liked feeling grounded. As she reached the end of her kata and slid into the finishing blow, letting out a full force 'kya', she found Ranma's face sitting a few centimetres from where her fist stopped, the force of the punch blowing the bangs off of the smiling boy's face.

"You've gotta teach me some of that stuff," Ranma said, still grinning away like a kid getting a present. "The way you move... it's like a machine or somethin'. So efficient."

Akane felt her eye twitch slightly. It was her art; she didn't like it being compared to something as cold as mechanical movements. Yet, the way Ranma smiled made her feel like it was, somehow, a compliment.

"You're a boy today, right?" Akane asked, thinking she understood why Ranma would find comparisons to machines so positive. So many of the guys at school would _not_ stop talking about cars, motorcycles, and anime mecha. So, from what she _thought_ she understood about how Ranma worked from the story last night, that had to be the answer.

Ranma opened their mouth for a moment, before shrugging. "It's one of those days I don't really feel like anything more than just me."

Akane didn't know what to make of that, but found herself distracted by Kasumi appearing at the door to call her and Ranma to breakfast. The pair headed to the table, where they joined Soun, Hibari, and Genma (Kasumi was off grabbing the meal, and Nabiki was apparently still asleep). The meal itself proved to be chaos, the Saotomes battling for food, stealing from one another, as if there was only enough food to feed two of them. Akane did find herself giggling at the way Ranma or Hibari would run distraction while the other stole from Genma. Clearly the pair had agreed long ago he was the common foe.

"So," Soun began, clearing his throat as they finished the last of the food and the battle subsided. "I phoned ahead, and the vice principal agreed that Ranma and Hibari can start classes today. We'll make the tuition payments some time this week."

"Aren't there entrance exams to do?" Hibari asked.

"No, no. Furinkan's known for being a rather informal school," Soun replied.

"Just want to make sure, you signed Hibari up as a girl, right?" Ranma asked, a judgmental glare that Akane could read as protective.

"Oh, I... I don't think I actually specified for either of you," Soun said, growing lost in thought.

It didn't surprise Akane, her father often skimmed over details. (Though, not as often as Ranma and Hibari's father seemed to.)

"That's something, at least," Hibari said with a smirk.

"I was hoping for a couple days off after all the travel to get back to Japan," Ranma muttered.

"School's important," Genma countered, seeming a little grumpy (no doubt from how much food he lost to his children).

Ranma and Hibari muttered weak agreements before sighing and the table went quiet for a few moments.

"Well, I guess we should get ready then," Akane said, excusing herself from the table. "I'll go wake Nabiki up."

Akane headed up, Kasumi and the Saotome siblings following her. She knew why the Saotomes had gone upstairs, but wasn't as sure for Kasumi. Either way, her issue right now was the wrath of a tired Nabiki. Knocking on her sister's door, she braced for the glare.

To her surprise, she instead heard a shout, before Nabiki whipped her door open. The brunette was clearly not quite in the waking world as she narrowed her eyes at Akane.

"Why did you let me sleep in so much?" Nabiki hissed.

"You hate being woken up early," Akane replied, feeling a little confused.

"I barely have time to get dressed now," Nabiki grumbled, turning back around.

"Oh! I guess we got a little delayed because daddy got talking about Ranma and Hibari going to school with us. Sorry," Akane said.

Nabiki grumbled something, but Akane didn't quite catch it, and so Akane ran off to change herself. It didn't take long, as she'd always kept her uniform ready for the morning. A couple minutes later, she was down at the door, waiting for the others. Hibari was the first to emerge, in a proper Furinkan uniform, and Akane found herself more than a little confused as to where the girl had gotten it from.

"Kasumi had her old uniform," Hibari explained, having apparently read Akane's confusion. "It's a touch big on me, but, maybe I'll grow into it? It was very nice of her to lend it to me... Still, kind of a drab uniform, don't you think? I mean, the long skirt is fun and a little _sukeban_, but, not much else going for it."

"I like the colour?" Akane offered.

"It does go with my hair well," Hibari replied, playing with a few strands of her striking red hair.

"Sorry, sorry, still figurin' out bras," Ranma said, rushing down the stairs, silk shirt not yet done up. "Gettin' faster though."

Akane tried her best not to stare as the petite girl set to work doing the shirt up. How was that the same chest she'd seen looking so toned and masculine just half an hour before?

This magic stuff was going to give her a headache. Still, there was no denying that those bright blue eyes and the big smile were the same.

The moment, whatever it was, was shattered as Nabiki came stomping down the stairs and pulled on her shoes. "Right, let's get going. I don't want to be stuck on water carrying duty."

Before anyone could reply, Nabiki began marching off, leaving Akane to scramble after her, the Saotome siblings following suit.

* * *

Though Nabiki made no effort to talk or to keep pace with her sister and the Saotomes, the other three for some reason _insisted _on keeping up with her and on prattling away about some martial arts nonsense. Nabiki had half a mind to tell them to pipe down, but even _that _would require more direct interaction than she could stand right now.

Sleep had not been kind to Nabiki. Her dreams had been full of pandas, magic springs and a certain irritating redhead. Nabiki had awoken with a start at least four times last night because of those nightmares. If she could just tune out the irritants next to her and make it to class, she'd be able to focus her mind on more pleasant things, like schoolwork. Not that she exactly loved that sort of thing, but right now she'd take _anything _that didn't involve speaking to another person and that rid her mind of the troubling images left over from her dreams. Because that certainly wasn't happening _now_, with one of those very images walking and talking right next to her. Friggin' _Hibari_.

"But really, that old lady we passed has really gotta watch where she's flingin' that water. _I_ was quick enough ta dodge, but..." Ranma said, hands behind his… _her_? Hands behind their neck.

"I _tried_ to tell you to move closer to the rest of us. She does that _most _mornings," Akane said.

Hm, so they'd already passed that old bat? Nabiki took a quick glance at her surroundings, since she'd been walking through them on autopilot. They were close to school! Thank goodness. If Nabiki had to contemplate how she was supposed to think of Ranma's gender _one more time_ she was gonna die.

The entryway to Furinkan High appeared up ahead. The smallest of smiles flitted across Nabiki's face as she quickened her pace. Almost there. Almost done being around the Saotomes... until after school, at least. Almost done dealing with _idiots_!

"Nabiki Tendo! _At last_ you have arrived!"

Her face fell. "Goddammit."

Tatewaki Kuno strode confidently toward her, a look of undeserved confidence upon his face. Not _him_, not _now_… she should've expected this, it happened virtually every morning, but with all the _other things_ going on in her mind…

"My shrewd, cunning goddess! Long have the hours been since last I saw your stunning visage!" Rolling her eyes so hard it almost hurt, Nabiki crossed her arms and glared up at the familiar irritant. "Ah, impatient, I see! Well, worry not! I have a most _devilish _puzzle to present you with today! This one _just might_ end up besting you!"

"Not likely."

A short, sharp laugh sounded from behind Nabiki. "What _is _this? Are you a part of a puzzle club?" Hibari said, moving right next to Nabiki with the biggest smirk on her face.

With as much animosity as she could muster, Nabiki looked Hibari in the eyes and said "_No_," then turned back to the man in front of her.

"Kuno, look-"

"Ah, _hello_, fair maiden! A new friend of my dear Nabiki, I take it?" He grinned wide, his eyebrows shifting up and down as he said, "Would _you_ like to try your hand at my _dastardly _conundrum?"

Barely managing to stop herself from outright laughter, Hibari said, "Oh, hah, no, no, I wouldn't want to interrupt! You two _please _continue."

Nabiki shot Hibari another venomous glance.

"Right, then! I shall dawdle _no longer_!" Striking a wholly unnecessary and dramatic pose, Kuno said, "Answer me _this_, Nabiki Tendo! 'You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin, and slow when I'm thick. The wind is my enemy. _What _am I?'"

After the slowest, most exaggerated blink she could muster, coupled with a low, drawn-out sigh, Nabiki said, "A candle."

Expression ecstatic, Kuno loudly said, "Ah, my dear Nabiki you have done it again! Such a _brilliant _mind! It took you no time at all! Truly, you are the most _clever _girl that I have ever had the fortune of encountering!"

"Right. So. Later, then," Nabiki said, starting to step around Kuno, free at last. But he shifted to the side, cutting off her escape.

"What're you _doing_!?" Nabiki shouted, nearly at her wits' end. "If I answer your stupid question you're supposed to _let me go_!"

"Ah, but, I have thought of something! I say to you, _cunning _Nabiki, consider this! What if it were the _sun_ that were the enemy, instead of the wind?"

Would it hurt Nabiki's fingers if she clawed someone's face off? She'd never considered it until this moment. "Then your stupid riddle _wouldn't work_! _Let me go to class_!"

"But Nabiki, we must consider the _possibilities_!" Kuno proclaimed, stepping in front of Nabiki each time she attempted to get around him.

With an uneasy chuckle, Hibari stepped up next to Nabiki again. "Hey, uh, Kuno, was it? Look, this was fun, _hilarious _even, for some of us. But let the girl go to class, huh? I think the bell's gonna be ringing soon anyway…"

Something about _Hibari_ of all people trying to help with this situation just set Nabiki even further on edge. Nabiki _refused_ to owe Hibari for help that she hadn't even asked for! And did Nabiki really look so weak in this situation that someone she _barely even knew_ felt the need to come to her rescue? But before she could voice any sort of complaint, someone _else _appeared by her side.

"Seriously, Kuno, that's enough, leave my sister alone," Akane said, her tone notably more aggressive than Hibari's.

That was the last straw. Nabiki had been telling Akane for _months_ to stay out of this whole Kuno situation. It was nothing Nabiki couldn't handle, despite the fact that all of her attempts to trick or manipulate the situation out of existence had so far been complete and utter failures. And, in some cases, they had actually made it worse. ...But now, not only was a virtual stranger coming to Nabiki's defense, but her own _sister_, who should _know better_?

"I need _all_ of you to just _back the hell off_!" Nabiki shouted as loud as she could, fists clenched. All three people surrounding her looked shocked, and in Akane's case, hurt. But at the moment, Nabiki didn't care. As long as they all did as she said right now, any accidental emotional damage could be dealt with later. Hibari and Akane slowly pulled away, which Nabiki took as a cue to _finally _walk around the bug-eyed Tatewaki.

Shaking his head as though escaping a stupor, Kuno took a few steps back, moving his frame in front of Nabiki once again. She was absolutely incredulous.

"I AM GOING TO-"

"I am _sorry_, my beloved, but the way your companions were acting was _rude_! And I, in all my benevolence, was willing to look past that, until _you_ behaved rudely as well! I thought you _above _such yelling! Such _profanity_!"

Wit's end reached. Now Nabiki was diving off it. Pulling both her arms up, Nabiki shouted angrily and shoved Kuno to the side with all the strength she had.

Unfortunately, she didn't have very much. Kuno was pushed back a mere step, easily regaining his footing despite his apparent surprise. Somewhere behind Nabiki someone gasped. She was pretty sure it was Akane.

After one short, obviously fake laugh, Kuno glared down at Nabiki. "And now you resort to _violence_? My dear, that is a battle you are _not fit_ to engage in!"

"Okay, that's enough of this guy," said a voice from behind Nabiki that definitely _wasn't_ Akane. Hibari appeared next to Nabiki, and without further warning she slammed an open palm into Kuno's chest. He was immediately launched backwards at an _astonishingly _quick rate, where he crashed into the side of the school hard enough to leave cracks in the wall.

Slowly, Nabiki turned her head to look at Hibari, mouth agape. She'd seen Akane break blocks before, and it sounded like Ranma and Hibari had trained enough to be even stronger than that… but _this_? Kuno had gone _flying_! Were some people really _that_ strong?

"Sorry," Hibari said, grimacing at Nabiki. "I know you said to back off, but, well, _he _wasn't, so…"

"Ah-hah!" a voice cried from up ahead. Kuno was slowly, shakily getting back up on his feet. "So a _true _physical challenger presents herself!" Drawing the practice sword that he always carried on his person regardless of the situation, Kuno roared. "If you wish to challenge me for Nabiki's affections, you will find that I am _more _than a match!"

That line shocked _everyone_. Nabiki was pretty sure she even heard Ranma, somewhere behind her and not nearly as close as the other two, shout 'what.'

"I-I… That's not why I did that!" Hibari said, her cheeks flushing. It almost made Nabiki laugh. _Good_. She _liked _seeing the girl a bit out of her element.

"Do not try to lie to _me_, ogre woman!" Kuno practically screeched, raising his sword up high. "My love and devotion are _unwavering_! I shall _NEVER_-" But he was unable to finish the sentence before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Everyone stood in silence. A lot had just happened. Too much, Nabiki would argue. She glanced up at the clock on the front of the school; the bell was about to ring. Without a word or a backward glance, Nabiki marched swiftly into the school, heading for her classroom.

* * *

Akane took her seat while the Saotomes went nervously to the front of the class. The rest of the students were abuzz, both about the transfer students and rumours of Kuno being sent flying that morning. A few of the smarter ones seemed to have put the two events together and were wondering if one of the cute girls at the front of the class had been involved in Kuno finally losing a fight.

"So, I have it on good authority that those two babes showed up with you and your sis," Hiroshi said as he slumped into his seat beside Akane. "Are they staying with your family?"

Akane tried not to grimace. Hiroshi had been trying his new 'cool guy' image ever since the year started, repeating a mantra of 'new school, new me', and with every passing day the temptation to pretend she didn't know him grew.

It didn't win today, however.

"Their dad's a friend of my dad... T-they, uh, both practice the same style, so he's probably going to help out with the dojo or something," Akane replied, realising that the truth wouldn't make any sense with both of the Saotomes there as girls.

Wait. Why _was_ Ranma attending school as a girl? She'd been so caught up in the confusion of the curse that Akane hadn't realised what Ranma switching to girl mode was going to mean. They... they weren't trying to sneak in to see girls changing, right?

Although, thinking back to Genma's story the night before, hadn't it come out that Ranma liked boys?

"Do you know if either of them are single?" Hiroshi whispered, as the teacher began shooing the students into their seats.

Akane's mind filled with the image of the cute petite Ranma giggling away at Hiroshi's side and she found panic bubbling up in her gut.

"H-her dad has an arranged marriage planned for her!" Akane found herself hissing, loud enough to get a few odds stares from nearby students.

"Her? Wait, so, which one? I mean, they're both cute," Hiroshi asked, after waving a few staring classmates away.

"Uh, Ranma," Akane whispered.

"Ahem!" the teacher coughed, getting several students to stop whispering. "I can gauge from your talkativeness that you're no doubt curious about our new transfer students. Well, Ranma and Hibari Saotome, please introduce yourselves."

"Yo!" Ranma began with a casual wave. "Well, as ya heard, we're the Saotomes. We've both been studying martial arts in China the past little bit."

"And we were travelling all over Japan before that," Hibari added. "We've learned all sorts of styles in our travels. Kung-fu, Taekwondo, Aikido, Jujutsu... even a little Sumo, if you'd believe that."

"Mhm, though China was where I picked up a neat trick," Ranma said.

A neat trick? Was it some sort of martial arts technique Ranma hadn't shown Akane yet? She found herself sitting up straight, wanting to get a better view, only to be confused when she saw Ranma pulling something out of their backpack. Wait, that was a thermos, wasn't it? When did they get that?

"There was this cursed spring at a training ground that I fell in, and now, when I get hit with hot water…" Ranma said, pausing for dramatic effect before upending the warm thermos on themself. The petite girl shot up a good 15cm, soft round features shifting from undeniably cute to something more handsome, as the class went silent. "I get turned into a guy. I figured I should show everyone right away, so there ain't any confusion or nothin'."

Hibari stepped back up to her sibling, having scooted away early (no doubt to avoid the hot water), and gave the class a grin. "And she's such a tomboy she'll probably show up like this sometimes."

Akane's eye twitched. Ranma was well past tomboyishness...

"Hey, who am I to turn down an extra 15cm? And pops always _did_ want a son," Ranma replied, a mischievous grin spreading across their face.

At that point, the class erupted into a barrage of questions.

"Does it hurt?"

"How hot does the water have to be?"

"How do you turn back?"

The chaos grew to the point that Akane was barely able to make out most of what was being asked. At least until one question was loud enough to be heard over everyone else.

"Do you like boys or girls?"

Everyone paused at that, all eyes turning to a beet red Sayuri who was rapidly trying to shrink back behind her desk.

"S-she's just cute as a boy, so… so I was curious," the ponytailed girl whispered as she slid deeper into her desk.

"Yes, well, I'm not sure that's the most appropriate question to ask," the teacher said. "Apologies for them all, Saotome-kun, though... how _do_ you change back? It's probably best for you to attend the class as a girl."

"Oh, sure, that just takes some cold wat—" Ranma began, only to have Hibari produce a bottle and dump it on them before they could finish. "—er."

The teacher nodded slowly, before directing the pair to a couple of empty seats. To Akane's relief, Ranma's wasn't too far from her own. As such, once the currently cute Saotome had sat down, Akane quickly lobbed a note with a simple question: 'why did you say it that way?'. Ranma wrote something down, and Akane found herself waiting nervously for the teacher to turn around again to write on the blackboard. After a couple of agonizing minutes, there was finally an opportunity, and Ranma tossed a note back to her.

'Easier on sis, if anything happens. Plus, skirts are fun,' was the simple reply.

Akane didn't really know what to say. It made sense that, if everyone thought Ranma's birth form was the cold water form, then if Hibari got hit with hot water she could just say she had the same curse, but was more embarrassed and hid it. Any girl in the class would understand that. After all, Akane had accepted the idea, and she knew how the curses really worked.

But Ranma... where were they going to change? Was she comfortable with changing in the same room as the sometimes boy? Was it okay to have a sometimes girl change with the boys? And, which school uniform were they going to wear? It was all so confusing to Akane.

"Yes, it will definitely be on the test."

Akane's heart dropped. She'd forgotten to pay attention to the lesson! And history was her weakest course. Shaking distracted thoughts out of her head, Akane decided she had to focus.

By the time the bell rang a few minutes later, Akane wasn't sure how well she'd recovered, but was relieved to have the endless lists of Sengoku samurai out of the way for the day. After taking a moment to breathe, she turned to see Ranma's desk was suddenly surrounded by other girls, all of whom obviously had questions. Akane decided to stand up and slip over to listen in better. As well as help out her new friend, if need be. (Ranma was looking a little overwhelmed after all.)

"Do you have to shave your face?" one of the girls nervously asked.

Ranma blinked. "Uh, only if I stay in guy mode for a few days?"

"Why would you do that?" another girl asked, her tone a bit more aggressive than the first's.

"We were travellin' through rural China. Sometimes I felt safer as a guy. As a girl, I'm tiny and cute, and even knowing martial arts, that can be a recipe for trouble," Ranma explained. "Especially with Pops not always picking the most reputable hotels."

A few girls nodded, accepting that concept. Others still seemed rather unsure, however. Akane looked over, wondering why Hibari wasn't coming to help Ranma with things, only to find the redhead was just as surrounded by male classmates with questions. She seemed to be loving the attention too, based on her smile.

"I think Sayuri-kun's question still kind of stands though," one of the more annoying girls in the class said, leaning in a little. "Since you turn into a guy, you get guy hormones and whatnot, so... does that mean you're totally a guy?"

Ranma stared at the girl blankly. "I ain't sure I follow."

"You don't—how do you not know about how these things work?" the snooty girl asked, her tone dramatic and dismissive.

"Ranma and her family moved around a lot, so, uh, she didn't always get the most stable schooling," Akane said, trying to help out. "It's not her fault, though. It was her dad who made them move a lot."

"I know plenty of stuff!" Ranma protested, their tone sharp as if Akane had been insulting them, rather than trying to help. "Sis made sure we kept up with textbooks and all that. She loves readin' and I wasn't going to let her get ahead of me."

Akane's eye twitched. Couldn't this dweeb tell she was trying to help?

"You say that, but you seem to not understand basic biology," the rude girl declared, placing a hand on Ranma's desk and raising an eyebrow. "Ironic, all things considered."

Ranma opened their mouth to reply when the door to the classroom burst open. Everyone turned to see Kuno standing there, his bokuto drawn and pointed at the room, slowly panning it across the classroom until he spotted Hibari.

"Thou! Vixen from this morn', Hibari Saotome! I challenge thee to a rematch!"

All eyes turned back to Hibari, wanting to see just how she would respond to a threat from the toughest guy in the school.

Her response proved simple and to the point: "What? Why?"


	4. Are You a Lesbian?

It had taken some time and effort, but _finally_ Nabiki felt like herself again. Ever since those annoying Saotomes had shown up it had felt like Nabiki's mood was entirely out of whack. But after a normal, boring morning of school, she'd managed to calm her inner self down and find where she always preferred to be — her emotional center. It had helped that Kuno had gotten himself knocked out, so he wasn't around during class to pass her notes or make goo-goo eyes at her. She felt herself grimacing, and quickly wiped the emotion from her face. She was just _so_ sick of that blithering idiot. But, now that she was thinking straight, _ideas _were coming to her… the new people in her life _just might _be able to help her solve the irritating problem that Kuno had become, if she played her cards right.

The heads around her turned toward the hallway windows, bringing her out of her own head. Something was happening. And now that she was paying attention, she too could hear sounds coming from down the hallway. Shouting, specifically, and a few crashing sounds.

Something loudly struck the classroom door, bending it in on itself.

"_Fight me_, foul temptress!" a familiar voice bellowed.

The sound of glass shattering rang through the air — fortunately for everyone in Nabiki's classroom, it had been from the windows of the classroom across the hall. At a glance, it didn't look like anyone in there had been hurt, only startled.

Mr. Hirano, Nabiki's homeroom teacher, shouted and rushed for the broken door. He had a hard time getting past it, but managed to shove it out of his way with a few grunts and some perseverance.

"Tatewaki Kuno! Just because your _father_ runs the school doesn't mean—"

Whirling around to face Mr. Hirano, sword pointed directly at the man's face, Kuno said, "_Silence_, knave! It means that _exactly_!"

Before Mr. Hirano could muster a response, Kuno crashed to the ground in a heap; Hibari had taken advantage of the moment to sweep the idiot's legs out from under him.

"Can you _stay down_ already? I'd like to get back to class."

Leaping back to his feet and swinging his bokken wildly, Kuno said, "_Never_! I _cannot _allow you to claim my wondrous Nabiki's heart! Thus shall I _never _surrender! I shall fight until my _dying breath_!"

The room around Nabiki erupted into chatter, each of her classmates tossing her loaded looks as they openly whispered her name. Ignoring the heat in her cheeks, Nabiki focused on keeping her expression perfectly neutral. This situation wasn't ideal, _but_… she had already thought of a way to use it to enact one of her plans.

Getting to her feet, Nabiki calmly strode out of the room, past Mr. Hirano — who was futilely trying to regain Kuno's attention — and directly to the loud buffoon's side.

"Kuno baby," she said, voice low. "Violence _won't_ win my heart."

Sauntering forward to stand between Kuno and Hibari, Nabiki calmly but firmly pushed Kuno's bokken toward the floor. He stared at her, stunned.

"As you and your _cunning_ mind have already deduced, _intelligence_ is how you'll impress me. _But_… you have yet to stump me with one of your riddles, isn't that right?" The exaggerated sultry tone and expressions that Nabiki was throwing Kuno's way would have read as patently false to most, but he was a special sort of unobservant. He shook his head up and down emphatically, clearly eating Nabiki's act up.

"So… if _violence_ won't work, then wouldn't it _only _make sense that, for Hibari to pose a threat, _she'd _need to defeat me with a riddle?"

"Ah, my love! Truly, you are the smartest among us _all_! To think, I had not even _considered_!"

With a melodramatic pout, Nabiki said, "Oh, Kuno baby, don't be so _down _on yourself! Not _everyone _is as brilliant as I am." Turning sharply around to face Hibari, she said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "I think it's only fair that _you_ be allowed to ask me a riddle, if you're so interested in winning my hand…" She looked back at Kuno for a moment. "…and my heart."

Hibari's eyes narrowed, as though she were trying to figure out what _exactly _Nabiki's game was. "I'm not interested in either of those. But if telling you a riddle will end this pointless fight…"

"I'm _sure_ it will!" Nabiki said, beaming back at Kuno. "Isn't that _right_? No more _fighting_? Only _riddles_?"

"Of course!" Kuno said. "I shall refrain from violence as long as this woman _also_ refrains!"

"Excellent!" Nabiki said, clapping her hands together and turning back to Hibari. She smiled wide, raising her eyebrows at the other girl. If Hibari was _half _as smart as she seemed to think she was, she'd know what to do.

Crossing her arms, Hibari said, "Okay, well… Hm. How about, 'I speak without a mouth-'"

"Bah, Nabiki solved that one _months_ ago!"

Nabiki could _feel _Hibari's struggle to avoid rolling her eyes. "…Okay… Well then, how about, 'I have cities, but no houses-'"

"_Child's play_!" Kuno shouted. "That was one of the very _first _riddles I ever asked her!"

The glare Hibari sent Kuno's way _almost _drew a laugh from Nabiki. She wouldn't allow that to happen, though — she needed to maintain her current persona for this plan to work. _But_, since she was currently turned _away _from Kuno… she raised and lowered her eyebrows a few times, hoping Hibari would take the hint. There certainly seemed to be _some_ sort of recognition in the redhead's eyes.

"Alright, then… 'What gets wet while it's drying?'" Hibari said, with a small smirk.

"Psh, _what_?" Kuno said. "You would try something so _simple_!? Nabiki is _far _too smart for such an _unrefined _riddle! Long ago I _considered _asking it, but realized it was _not fit_ for my goddess' ears!"

Turning and holding a finger out toward him, Nabiki said, "Kuno baby, _hush_, I'm trying to think."

His face fell. "You are… _what_?" He moved close, positively dripping confusion. "Nabiki, you take but a _moment_ to answer _every _riddle I throw at you! How could-"

Pressing her fingers firmly against his lips, Nabiki shushed him again. "_Geeze_, could you keep it down? I'm _trying _to figure this out!"

Casting her eyes about the room, hemming and hawing dramatically, Nabiki scrunched her face up in faux consternation. She caught a glimpse of Hibari, who was doing her best to avoid laughter.

Grabbing her head as though it hurt, Nabiki cried out and fell to her knees. "_Damn it_! I just can't think of _anything_! Hibari, you _monster_, you've bested me!"

Letting out a genuine wail, Kuno _also _fell to his knees. "Nabiki, _how_!? It was a _towel_! _How _could you not have realized!? _How _could you have been defeated by such a _simple _riddle?"

All of her fake, overblown emotion dropped away as Nabiki stood and shrugged. "Maybe I'm not quite as smart as you thought I was."

Crying to the heavens, Kuno leapt to his feet and ran back down the hallway the way he came, literally sobbing.

"_Kuno_! Get _back here_ and _clean up_ this mess!" Mr. Hirano shouted after him.

Moving to Nabiki's side, Hibari quietly said, "Heh, good one. You're _just _as smart as he thinks you are… maybe _more_, hm? Some decent acting chops too."

Nabiki grinned and did the tiniest of bows.

"I'm not dating you, though."

"Hm, we'll see," Nabiki said nonchalantly, tapping her bottom lip. "I _may _need you to pretend to be, if Kuno ever figures out what just happened."

"W-_what_?" Hibari said, clearly not expecting that sort of response. "No. I _wouldn't_…"

Smirking, Nabiki sauntered away, drinking in the smug satisfaction she felt at seeing color rise in Hibari's cheeks. That girl liked to _act _all high and mighty, but she wasn't as perfect as she liked to let on. And now Nabiki seemed to have found a surefire way to get under her skin. Oh yes, Nabiki was feeling _grand_ now; _everything _was going her way once again. …Now if only she could find a way to make a little _money _off of this whole thing.

* * *

Akane was with Yuka and Sayuri, the trio wanting to eat lunch outside. They were waiting for Ranma and Hibari to finish talking about the rubrics or whatever with the teachers first, before heading off.

Akane still found herself in a little bit of a daze, having been trying to study the way Ranma interacted with both guys and girls to see if she could understand them better. She still wasn't sure if Ranma was both, and would be able to mesh with either group well, or more neither and awkward with everyone. Or, just, naturally a little awkward regardless of gender... type... stuff.

"I hope people aren't going to keep being so nervous about poor Ranma," Yuka said, drawing Akane out of her thoughts. "I get that her condition is a little odd, but... she seems nice enough?"

"I should probably have been talking to both the Saotomes more," Akane added. "I just worried about seeming clingy, since they're already staying at my place. Kind of left Ranma lonely in the process though."

"Yeah, that's fair," Yuka replied. "Hibari certainly seems popular, though. Especially with how she's apparently 2 and 0 against Kuno. I think some of the guys are scared of _not_ flirting with her."

"There's a surprising amount of guys at this school obsessed with girls who can beat them up," Akane said, groaning a little at the memory of some of the love letters she'd gotten over the past couple months. Along with a few awkward confessions.

"Is Ranma as good as is Hibari at martial arts?" Sayuri asked.

"Hm... I've not had a chance to see them spar together yet," Akane said, before her ears picked up the sound of approaching feet.

Turning, she saw Hibari and Ranma heading over, each carrying their bentos. They both looked very relieved to have at last escaped the classroom.

"Sorry we took so long," Ranma said, offering a slight grimace. "Teach' wanted to check how up to date we were with schoolin' and stuff."

"I'm glad to finally be out of his earshot though, because I just know that grumpy goon would get upset at me for sharing what I've confirmed this morning," Hibari said, her tone quiet and conspiratorial.

"What? You found something interesting on your first morning at Furinkan?" Yuka asked, her tone sounding impressed.

Akane found herself similarly drawn in, wondering what Hibari learned. The glint in her eyes indicated it was of the utmost importance. The redhead's eyes shifted over, landing squarely on Akane, and making her feel a little nervous.

"Your sis, Nabiki... she's almost certainly a lesbian and definitely has the hots for me," Hibari explained, a grin growing across her face as soon as she'd said it.

Akane felt her face grow hot, trying to stammer a defense of her sister, insisting Hibari was misinterpreting, but her efforts only seemed to make Hibari's smile bigger.

"She's clearly the type that wants what she can't have," Hibari added, crossing her arms triumphantly.

Akane was about to ask what proof Hibari had when a pair of talkative third years walked past.

"She didn't?" the first asked of something Akane had missed.

"She did! The stuck up little snob lost a riddle competition. And it wasn't even to the principal's kid. It was to some foreign girl who just transferred here. Now they're apparently dating!" the second explained.

A soft sigh drew Akane's attention back to Hibari. "The red hair just makes everyone think I'm foreign."

"Wait, you beat Nabiki at a riddle?" Sayuri asked, seeming oddly invested to Akane. "What were you doing asking her one?"

"It was to get that Kuno guy to stop trying to kill me with his dumb bokuto. At least that was _my_ goal. Nabiki seemed a little quick to suggest it though," Hibari said with a wink.

Akane didn't know what to think. Nabiki had always seemed incapable of romantic feelings to her, having gone through most of her boyfriends in under a week in middle school (usually once she'd burned through their savings). But, well... if Nabiki was a lesbian, was that genetic? Did that mean Akane was more or less likely to be one? She was so lost in thought that Akane nearly tripped on the stairs down out of the school.

"S-so, are you _going_ to go out with her?" Sayuri asked.

"As a business arrangement to help her with Kuno, I'd think about it. Providing she took me somewhere expensive and was paying for it. This girl's time doesn't come cheap," Hibari replied with a casual shrug.

"So, where's the lunch spot?" Ranma asked, interrupting Akane's effort to process Hibari's casual approach to going on a date with a girl.

"Ah, it's just under that tree over there," Yuka replied.

The rest of lunch was a bit of a daze for Akane. There was so much to figure out. Some of which she couldn't actually work out on her own. She'd have to talk to Nabiki after school. She also couldn't help but wonder if Ranma would be so casual about dating another... wait, but Ranma was sometimes a boy, so there'd be times when it wouldn't be so scandalous for Ranma to date a girl.

Somehow that felt almost disappointing. Looking up at the adorable ponytailed Ranma across from her (who was currently being told about a grain of rice on her cheek by an attempting to be subtle Yuka, and looking so cute in their confusion) Akane felt her heart race a little as her head spun in confusion.

The warning bell for the end of lunch interrupted her introspection, forcing her to head off and worry about the _joys_ of home ec class. At least trying to make edible muffins would distract her for a bit.

* * *

Walking swiftly towards the gate to the school grounds, Nabiki was surprised to hear her sister call out to her, asking her to slow down. Glancing back, she didn't see Ranma or Hibari around; it was just Akane that was running up to her. _Curious_. She and Akane didn't usually walk home together — that stopped being a regular thing _years _ago — and given how much she'd been hanging out with them since they'd arrived, Nabiki had figured Akane would want to walk with the Saotomes. Hm, well, it couldn't just be that Akane wanted to hang out with her sister… there had to be _something _she was itching to talk about.

"Hey, sis!" Akane said with a soft smile as she caught up and the two of them started walking together. "I didn't get a good chance to ask earlier — are you doing okay, after all that stuff with Kuno?"

_Of course_, she had to get her _concern _out of the way before moving on to what she _really_ wanted to talk about. Well, Nabiki could play along. "Oh yes! I've finally taken care of that whole… _situation_. So I'm doing _wonderfully_, really."

The big, genuine smile that flashed across Akane's face made Nabiki's heart swell… not that she'd ever show it. Akane had always been the most earnest one in the family, and, at least in her _head_, Nabiki couldn't deny that it was often endearing. It also got Akane into _far _more trouble than Nabiki or Kasumi ever managed to get into, so it had its tradeoffs.

The conversation devolved into small-talk for a while, until the two Tendo girls were quite a ways away from school, and no longer near to any other Furinkan students. Out of the corner of her eye, Nabiki could tell Akane was getting a little nervous. Had the time come?

"Hey, so… Hibari said something _interesting_ earlier…" Akane said, not making eye contact. _There_ it was. Nabiki _knew _it had only been a matter of time. "She said that you were… um, well, it's awkward, but you should know…" Still obviously wracked with nerves, Akane looked directly at Nabiki. "She said you're… a _lesbian_?"

Nabiki's eyebrows flew upward, but she otherwise maintained composure. "She said that, did she? _Interesting_." That devious little witch. Planting thoughts like that in her sister's head, and spreading rumors about Nabiki besides. Hm… Perhaps that 'surefire' method of getting under Hibari's skin was less effective than Nabiki had thought. …But _no_, that couldn't be it. Hibari had _definitely_ been flustered when Kuno had first suggested that she was interested in Nabiki, and she had _definitely_ been flustered when Nabiki had brought up the idea of them dating. It was just that she was _obnoxiously _clever, and had realized what Nabiki was doing. This 'lesbian' accusation was a calculated counterattack. The returning fire at the start of a war that Nabiki _refused _to lose.

Though she'd remained quiet for a few minutes while the gears in Nabiki's mind spun, Akane clearly couldn't keep her follow-up question stifled any longer.

"B-but _are_ you?"

"_What_?" Nabiki said with a curt laugh, suddenly out of her own head. "No, _clearly_. You've _seen_ all the boys I've dated."

Unappeased, Akane said, "But that was back in junior high. I haven't seen you date _anyone _in high school."

"Meh, these Furinkan boys are all so… _uninteresting_," Nabiki said with a dismissive wave. "And cheap. I _have_ gone on a few dates in the last two years, but never more than _one _with these cheapskates."

Akane nodded, and went quiet for a moment. Then, softly, she said, "But so… you're _not_ a lesbian."

"No, Akane, I'm _not_ a lesbian," Nabiki said with a beleagured sigh. "It was all a clever ploy to get that _idiot _Kuno off my back, and if _Hibari_ wants to read more into it than that, it's on _her_. Sounds like _she's_ the lesbian for reading into things so much, really."

Shaking her head, Akane said, "Well, she said that she thinks you're the type who wants what they can't have, referring to herself, so I don't _think _she's actually interested." Hm, Hibari was _annoyingly_ observant. Or a lucky guesser. Nabiki _did_ tend to want what she couldn't have. It's just that _people_ had never been one of those things. She was _always_ able to have _people_, if she wanted them. People were _easy_. And if she _were_ into women, then she could get Hibari wrapped around her finger within a _week_, no doubt about it.

"Although," Akane continued, "I guess she _did_ say that she'd go on a date with you as a 'business arrangement' to help with Kuno, if you took her out somewhere expensive and paid for it. And she seemed _really_ casual about it, so maybe…?"

_Impressive_. "I've got to hand it to her, that's just good business sense. Respectable."

Despite the fact that Nabiki considered herself _quite _good at reading people, she had a hard time reading the emotion that Akane looked at her with now. Her sister turned away, and a moment later softly said, "You know, you two are kind of similar."

Nabiki didn't have an answer for that… but she didn't like it. Perhaps they were similar in _some_ respects… But the girl lacked subtlety, and it drove Nabiki up the wall.

"S-so you're _not_ a lesbian, but, _hypothetically_…" Oh goodness, Nabiki couldn't wait to see where _this_ would go. "If you or Kasumi _were_ like that… that's not like… a _genetic_ thing, right?"

Making no effort to halt the smirk that naturally found its way to her lips, Nabiki said, "Why, are you worried?"

"N—_no_! I just don't know how this stuff works—"

"I mean, if you're so curious, just date _Ranma_. They seem to be a boy _and_ a girl at different times, so you can experiment."

Mouth wide in indignation, Akane shoved her sister's shoulder. "_Nabiki_!"

For the first time in a long while, Nabiki let herself laugh, loudly and heartily. "I was _joking_, you dweeb."

After staring blankly for a moment, Akane started to laugh too; the two sisters laughed for a good half a minute before they finally calmed down, Nabiki clutching her sides and Akane wiping tears from her eyes.

"I can't believe you fell for that," Nabiki said with a rare genuine smile at Akane. "As if there's any way that _either_ of us would end up with one of those weird Saotomes."

* * *

Arriving home, Nabiki was prepared to head up to her room until dinner. She had a bit of homework to do, and, more importantly, she had to prepare contingencies for schemes Hibari might toss her way. She didn't know the other girl quite enough yet to have all the variables down, a situation that Nabiki so rarely liked to work from, but... she was reasonably certain that spending extra time with that infuriating redhead for psychology research would lead to more headaches than it was worth.

So, calling out that she was home roughly in unison with Akane, she quickly took her shoes off and turned towards the stairs, only to have Hibari's grinning face appear from the kitchen.

"You two sure took your time. Ranma and I got back five minutes ago."

"W-we had things to talk about," Akane replied defensively.

"Oh? Any good gossip?" Hibari asked, walking over and leaning in conspiratorially. The way she wiggled her eyebrows was... Nabiki wasn't quite sure what word to use for it, for once, but it annoyed her.

"It was private," Nabiki cut in, her tone as cold. "Was there something you wanted? Or are we free to go?"

"Yeesh, I'm just trying to be friendly," Hibari said, straightening back up and crossing her arms with a huff. "I don't really want anything, but our dads want everyone in the living room. They've got something to tell everyone."

Nabiki decided to let herself visibly grimace. Her father's 'family meeting' ideas were rarely examples of good planning, and, so far, she had even lower expectations from Hibari and Ranma's father. Honestly debating not going for a split second, Nabiki gave in, following Akane and Hibari the short distance down the hall. Her father's waterworks in response to obvious rebellion was so rarely worth it.

In the living room, they found Soun, Genma, and Kasumi waiting, the two men laughing merrily and discussing how they should have drinks to celebrate whatever their scheme was. Just as Nabiki found herself about to ask where Ranma was, the handsome figure of the black haired lad appeared from the direction of the furo, hair still looking a little damp. Had Ranma changed back after school to relax? She had to admit to some curiosity about the situation with the less annoying Saotome sibling.

"Ah, good, everyone's here now," Soun said, clapping his hands together as everyone took their seats.

"I still don't get why I had ta change first," Ranma grumbled, arms crossed.

"This conversation is the type of thing you need to be a guy for," Genma replied.

The engagement, that had to be it... Were the two men really going to still try to push that? Neither Saotome was precisely prime quality husband material.

"We recognise that the situation is a bit odd, but, Ranma _is_ a man about half the time," Soun explained. "So he can still fill the role of husband as needed. Genma also tells me that he's the better martial artist of the two siblings, making him an even better option for the head instructor of the dojo."

Genma nodded sagely, while Ranma's eyes glazed over a little. Nabiki had to wonder how this outcome surprised the pigtailed lad, it was obvious which of the two Saotomes would be getting engaged.

"Of course, with Ranma providing the martial arts skills, it would be best for the dojo if his future wife had different strengths," Genma explained. "After much debate..."

Nabiki noticed the tiniest of twitches on Kasumi's face. Nabiki couldn't help feel a little empathy for her eldest sister, being dragged into this me—

"We agreed that Nabiki was the best candidate," Genma concluded.

Her eye twitched. Kasumi hadn't been preparing for bad news... she'd been reacting to the memory of a, no doubt mind numbing, debate. Her eldest sister was always dangerous to try to read. Of course, Nabiki should have expected this. Kasumi had been there at home, able to actively defend herself from the fathers' scheming, while Nabiki had been vulnerable, away at school with no idea what was being plotted.

Nabiki narrowed her eyes at Kasumi, who replied with a silent 'sorry'. Turning over to her new fiancé(e?), Nabiki saw only confusion in Ranma's eyes. Clearly Ranma had been expecting Akane, likely due to the simple fact of their being the same age.

"You have my condolences," Hibari said in a gentle voice, placing a hand on Ranma's shoulder. There was a definite smugness about the redhead, though.

"There's no condolences needed," Nabiki snapped. Maybe she didn't like this engagement nonsense, but she really didn't like it being implied that spending time with her would be so horrible. She could be quite pleasant, if she chose to be, and maybe winning Ranma over would be the best play against Hibari. As such, she put on her practiced smile. "So, Ranma, _dear_, if we're going to be engaged, we should probably get to know each other a little, no? Why don't we try a little date tonight?"

Ranma's cheeks went red in response, the lad glancing between Genma and Hibari with uncertainty... and did those nervous eyes land on Akane for a moment?

"I, uh... I mean, I don't got much money for going anywhere fancy or nothin'," Ranma muttered at last.

"We can just go for a walk in the park. I'm sure your company is good enough," Nabiki replied, batting her eyelashes a little.

"Th-that doesn't sound too bad. Maybe you could show me around the neighbourhood a little?" Ranma offered, fidgeting just a smidge, but seeming to calm down.

"That sounds lovely," Nabiki said. "Should we go now or wait until after dinner, daddy?"

Her father blinked, having worn a face of utter shock when she'd turned to him. He'd no doubt been expecting her to fight him more than she had, missing out that she had a more annoying enemy to deal with right now.

"Now sounds good? I'll... I'll give you some money for food, so there's no need to rush home," Soun replied, hopping to his feet.

Nabiki was sure she saw tears of happiness running down his cheeks as he hurried off to find his wallet.

Maybe she could get a bigger allowance out of this scheme by being so cooperative? That was definitely work thinking about. For now, though, she was going to focus on Ranma, learning what she could about the gender-defying teen all while seeming like an attentive girlfriend.

Nabiki allowed herself a quick glance over at Hibari to give the smuggest expression she could, before turning back to Ranma.

"Let's go get changed then, no?"

"Uh, sure... yeah," Ranma replied, hopping up to a standing position.

She had to admit to feeling a little annoyed that Ranma headed right off, rather than waiting to walk with her, but... between Hibari and Genma's influence, she supposed she shouldn't have the highest expectations of Ranma's manners. As she walked out of the room to follow Ranma, Nabiki could feel Hibari staring daggers at her and felt a genuine smile grow on her face. This was going delightfully.

Nabiki made her way upstairs, quickly hunting down something that made her look good, but didn't make her look desperate. Luckily that was the fashion style she liked the most, so it didn't take long to find an outfit (an off the shoulder baggy t-shirt layered over a sleeveless shirt, and some skinny jeans). Heading down to the front entrance, she had to admit Ranma looked quite cute in an orange t-shirt with a little red bowtie. Not exactly fashionable, but cute.

Her father was also there, handing a bit of money over to Ranma, which she waited for him to finish before skipping over and grabbing Ranma's arm.

"Well, shall we head off?" Nabiki asked, smiling away at how much her grip was making Ranma blush.

"Y-yeah. I, well, maybe you should lead the way, though?" Ranma replied.

Nabiki pulled out what she knew was a cute thoughtful look before shrugging. "I suppose that's for the best. Let's go."

With that, they set out, Nabiki trying not to laugh as she tried to imagine the frustrated look that was no doubt on Hibari's face right now.


End file.
